Moneywise.com knocks the A's home for its lack of design, amenities and views

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The Oakland Athletics host the New York Yankees in a MLB game at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

CLICK HERE if you are having a problem viewing the photos on a mobile device Guess what? Raw sewage stinks. And so does the most recent survey of major league baseball stadiums. Moneywise.com, piggy-backing on a Forbes report, published a ranking of MLB’s worst 30 venues, “taking into account design, amenities and the views.” Survey […]

Network Associates Coliseum as seen from overhead at the start of Game 2 of the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees playoff series Wednesday October 4, 2000.(Kevin Sullivan/Bay Area News Group)

Aeriel view of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, is shown on March 3, 1998 in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

Oracle Arena, left, and O.co Coliseum are seen in this aerial view over Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

A general exterior view of Tropicana Field prior to game one of the 2008 MLB World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays on October 22, 2008 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images)

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Guess what? Raw sewage stinks.

And so does the most recent survey of major league baseball stadiums. Moneywise.com, piggy-backing on a Forbes report, published a ranking of MLB’s worst 30 venues, “taking into account design, amenities and the views.”

Survey says: The Oakland Coliseum ranks next to last, one rung above Tropicana Field in Tampa. Among other things, Moneywise.com knocks the Coliseum for its aging cookie-cutter design. That’s a gentle put-down; most critics cut straight to the Coliseum’s intermittent sewage backups.

Look, It’s no great trick to find rankings of MLB stadia in the great wide ether. Their proliferation confirms the belief that there are no more original ideas, only short attention spans. And it’s no great trick to predict that the Coliseum and The Trop will be shackled together at the bottom of the heap. Throwing brickbats at those two facilities is like pulling the wings off a fly.

A recent NBC Sports Washington ranking had the Coliseum last, based in part on the 1990s-era Raider-fication of the stadium that blocked a pleasing view. “These days there are no mountains to be seen,” the report reads, “only a decrepit stadium that feels even older than it is.”

We know the drill. There’s no arguing the criticisms. But c’mon, man, get it right. The view that Mount Davis eradicated was the Oakland hills. Hills, not mountains.

In May 2018, Ballpark Digest rated the Coliseum dead last, explaining, “The Oakland Coliseum means seats set far back from the action — even in the front row.”

Tell us something we don’t know.

In August, Popular Mechanics took a swing at the genre, ranking the A’s home last among major league stadiums. Reason being: “Failing infrastructure, lack of design charm and general blandness.” At least it waited until after the All-Star break to kill the vibe.

Again, there is no defense against the charges. But Popular Mechanics rails at accoutrements imagined in the mid-1960s, and reimagined at a full gallop when the Raiders moved back home. I mean, what do you expect? For comparison purposes, multiple major league teams have called three stadiums home since the Coliseum was opened Sept. 18, 1966.

Yardbarker.com piled on last month, placing the Coliseum 29th, opining, “While the experience there isn’t bad, it is just an ugly baseball stadium to look at.”

Perhaps you’re aware: The A’s are attempting to resolve the stadium conundrum as we speak. We can only dream this vision will become a reality in the near future so the ballpark-raters can turn their critical analysis to other venues — such as Yankee Stadium with its omnipresent and garish signage. The place looks like a casino, for heck’s sake.

Gary Peterson is a sports writer for the Bay Area News Group. His prior assignments included 31 years as a sports columnist, serving as a general assignment news reporter, covering courts and writing a metro column before finding his way back to sports.